Sparkling characterizations, espionage, and international intrigue spice up this ambitious, eco-conscious thrill ride.
A debut globe-trotting novel charts an enterprising American entrepreneur’s risky foray into renewable electricity.
Canadian author Helm’s corporate thriller stars Jim Dunsmuir, a reckless risk taker and “one of the richest, most eligible bachelors in the world.” Dunsmuir got his start in the real estate and oil production industries before digging his heels into financial investments. From his home base in Reykjavik, Iceland, he seeks a partner in a new venture and proposes a collaboration with environmentalist and sustainability expert Garcia Grey. Combining her knowledge and vast experience with his resources, they spearhead a pioneering renewable energy source that is poised to revolutionize how the world manufactures, delivers, and ultimately consumes electricity. This brilliant innovation makes Dunsmuir a target for other companies thirsty for an ecologically sound breakthrough in power sources. The corporate shark closest to unseating his plans is the conniving cutthroat George Anderson, founder of Blade Solar, one of the world’s largest solar companies, a man who isn’t above bribing, spying, or bending the law. He diabolically injects himself into Dunsmuir’s orbit to derail his bid on a lucrative contract involving installing an eco-friendly, efficient hydroelectricity grid in a new Saudi Arabian “super city.” To gain an edge, Anderson employs the aid of former New York City Police Department detective Richard Emerson and his security industry cohorts, who have illicitly ushered through other acquisitions. With pitch-perfect characterizations and a swift narration, Helm shifts his novel into high gear as Dunsmuir plans his strategic bid while Anderson uses every fiendish, undermining tactic in his arsenal, including vicious kidnapping and sabotage plots, to eliminate the competition and gain favor with the Saudi crown prince. The two entrepreneurs’ bidding war gets violently nasty, but the author uses this competitiveness to the book’s advantage by generating suspense, momentum, and the kind of corporate greed and fierce power plays that reflects aspects of today’s modern, high-tech business world. Additionally, the dynamic between Dunsmuir and Grey deepens and intensifies as both grow closer over the course of a perhaps needlessly lengthy novel. The author’s use of a hot topic—sustainable green resources—will surely draw readers in, and his storytelling talent will keep them there until the tidy ending.
Sparkling characterizations, espionage, and international intrigue spice up this ambitious, eco-conscious thrill ride.Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5320-8442-3
Page Count: 486
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Intrigue, murder, and vengeance make for a darkly enjoyable read.
A woman’s life takes a stunning turn and a wall comes tumbling down in this tense Cold War spy drama.
In Berlin in 1989, the wall is about to crumble, and Anne Simpson’s husband, Stefan Koehler, goes missing. She is a translator working with refugees from the communist bloc, and he is a piano tuner who travels around Europe with orchestras. Or so he claims. German intelligence service the BND and America’s CIA bring her in for questioning, wrongly thinking she’s protecting him. Soon she begins to learn more about Stefan, whom she had met in the Netherlands a few years ago. She realizes he’s a “gregarious musician with easy charm who collected friends like a beachcomber collects shells, keeping a few, discarding most.” Police find his wallet in a canal and his prized zither in nearby bushes but not his body. Has he been murdered? What’s going on? And why does the BND care? If Stefan is alive, he’s in deep trouble, because he’s believed to be working for the Stasi. She’s told “the dead have a way of showing up. It is only the living who hide.” And she’s quite believable when she wonders, “Can you grieve for someone who betrayed you?” Smart and observant, she notes that the reaction by one of her interrogators is “as false as his toupee. Obvious, uncalled for, and easily put on.” Lurking behind the scenes is the Matchmaker, who specializes in finding women—“American. Divorced. Unhappy,” and possibly having access to Western secrets—who will fall for one of his Romeos. Anne is the perfect fit. “The matchmaker turned love into tradecraft,” a CIA agent tells her. But espionage is an amoral business where duty trumps decency, and “deploring the morality of spies is like deploring violence in boxers.” It’s a sentiment John le Carré would have endorsed, but Anne may have the final word.
Intrigue, murder, and vengeance make for a darkly enjoyable read.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64313-865-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.
In Yarros’ latest romance novel, a young woman hires a handsome but infuriating writer to complete her late great-grandmother’s half-finished book.
After her marriage to a Hollywood producer ends in high-profile divorce, 28-year-old Georgia Stanton returns to her childhood home in Colorado. When she arrives at the house where she was raised by her great-grandma—the famous romance author Scarlett Stanton—she finds her mother, Ava, lying in wait. Georgia is in possession of the only unfinished manuscript that her deceased relative left behind, and her own mom wants her to sell the rights so they can get some cash. Georgia succumbs to the pressure and enters a deal in which another author will finish the book’s second half. The manuscript tells Scarlett’s life story, including how she found, and lost, her one true love. Georgia feels strongly that the finished novel must reflect the true events of Scarlett’s life, as difficult as they may have been. Unfortunately, the publishers hire Noah Harrison, a stubborn writer at the height of his career, who has his own fictional vision for the novel’s ending. As Noah and Georgia butt heads, each of them researches Scarlett’s history in England during World War II. As they learn more about Scarlett and Jameson Stanton, the fighter pilot she loved, Georgia and Noah must navigate their own increasingly complicated relationship. With two equally engrossing storylines, this book will draw in even seasoned romance readers. As the story jumps between past and present, the author also alternates present-day perspectives between Georgia and Noah, moving deftly between her characters’ distinct voices. The relationships are well developed, and the love that Scarlett felt for Jameson is especially palpable. Along with the sweetly romantic themes, the book explores several heftier topics, including personal ambition, grief, family discord, and self-esteem. The story has a few digressions that do little to advance the plot, but the main characters are sufficiently engrossing that readers will want to stick with them to the end.
A charming dual-timeline romance about learning from past mistakes.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68281-566-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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